Rebuilding hearth and home

Friday

Nov 27, 2009 at 12:01 AM

STOCKTON - A turkey dinner with all the fixings was just a side dish - and a much-needed lunch break - for a far-flung Stockton family that returned home for the long weekend to give their parents' house an extreme holiday makeover.

Zachary K. Johnson

STOCKTON - A turkey dinner with all the fixings was just a side dish - and a much-needed lunch break - for a far-flung Stockton family that returned home for the long weekend to give their parents' house an extreme holiday makeover.

Dee and Virginia Bird have seven children, 29 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Most of them were on hand for the holiday meal Thursday, having traveled from Washington, Arizona, Idaho, Utah and across Stockton to be there. And if they were old enough to apply tape before painting, they were put to work, too.

"It's a testimony of love and affection if there ever was one," said Dee Bird, 80.

What started out as a talk about the family coming together to paint the house developed into a more complicated task as plans developed over the past year and a half, family members said.

"We wanted to take care of our parents, and we wanted them to enjoy their living space," said Jeanine Parker of Stockton, one of the seven children.

The family put the displaced parents in the Stockton Hilton before the crew began ripping out fixtures, floors and carpeting in the home off Robinhood Drive on Wednesday. They're outsourcing the carpeting installation, but family members will be doing the rest of the work, from putting in new floors to moving in a newer piano to creating a digital catalog of Dee Bird's collection of books. The former Village Oaks Elementary School principal and instructor at San Joaquin Delta College and University of the Pacific has an estimated 2,000 books, said Darl Flake, the 25-year-old grandson from Washington state in charge of the task.

They hope to move the couple back in by Saturday.

The seven Bird children grew up in that house, contributing to some of the wear and tear along the way, said Susan Westra, one of the seven and a Stockton resident.

Sprucing up the house was a walk down memory lane of sorts, of childhood mishaps: broken windows, holes in walls, an over-enthusiastic fire in the fireplace and a pot filled with stove-popped popcorn placed on the floor before cooling.

Though family members are spread out across the country, they do see each other regularly; the last family reunion was over the summer.

"We love each other; we like to make each other laugh," said daughter MayLynn Flake, who came down from Washington. "This is just an added bonus to be together for so many days."

Six of the seven children were able to make it to Stockton. But during the makeover days, the whole family holds conference calls using a Web camera twice a day to talk about progress, where the plan is going and to pray together, the family said.

The family was able to use facilities of their church, the Mormon church on El Dorado Street, on Thursday to prepare and eat their Thanksgiving meal.

Westra said her parents have been active in their church and community their whole lives, and it's only right that the family pulls together to do something nice for them.

Married for nearly 60 years, Dee and Virginia Bird have lived for most of that time in Stockton. They moved from a smaller home about a block away when they took up residence in their current home more than 45 years ago.

"Stockton has been a marvelous place to raise a family," Dee Bird said.

Virginia Bird, 78, said she's proud of her family and the schools, church, family and community that contributed to their growing up.

"There's a lot of good families in this town," she said. "We just have a few more children."